Kildare's Braveheart putting his body on the line for the team

Picture the scene. 

It’s Saturday evening 12 April and we’re coming towards the end of the first quarter of the Leinster Senior Football Championship Quarter Final between Kildare and Westmeath at a packed Cedral St Conleth’s Park. The Lake County has just equalised at 0-5 apiece after Kildare had gone in to a 0-5 to 0-1 lead early on. Westmeath’s dangerous forward, Ronan Wallace, is bearing down on goal and Cian Burke’s goal looks to be in real danger of being breached. Step forward young Harry O’Neill who dives full length to block Wallace’s goal bound effort and Kevin Feely completes the clearance. In the process, however, the Clane man sustained a serious injury.

“I don't really remember a whole lot about it,” the All-Ireland U20 winner with Kildare told The Kildare Nationalist this week. 

“I just remember there's a man running behind me. It was as normal a block that I was going to go for and I just kind of threw myself at it. Then I woke up in the ambulance but I don't remember a whole lot else. I was a little bit conscious when I was in the hospital room in Conleth’s but other than that I was in there and I was waking up in another place. I didn't really know there was a game on or anything to be honest,” Harry explained.

The flame haired brave defender suffered concussion, two fractures in an eye socket, a fracture to his nose and also a fraction to his cheek. 

“So, it was a fair aul dose, unfortunately,” he tells us nonchalantly.

O’Neill is now back to full fitness but the trauma of that injury hasn’t affected his performances in the Lilywhite jersey since his return to action. 

“I suppose it was just missing out when the lads were playing Louth”, he says. 

“I wasn't really thinking about the face, I just wanted to be back with the lads. It probably sounded a lot worse than it was as well. I got the swelling down quite quickly, the concussion seemed to heal up quite quickly too. The medical staff here did a brilliant job and thankfully, I was back before no time at all.” Harry added.

Although only in his third year with the Kildare seniors O’Neill is probably one of the more experienced players in Brian Flanagan’s brood of young players. He made his debut off the bench in the Championship against Roscommon in 2023. 

“I was pulled in after ‘20s that year but then last year I had awful bother with injuries but thankfully this year the body, touch wood, is staying in one piece,” the Clane man continued.

O’Neill finds it hard to explain Kildare’s change of fortune this year which saw them get promoted to Division 2 in the Allianz Football League, run eventual champions, Louth, very close in a Leinster semi-final and now qualify for Saturday’s Tailteann Cup Final in Croke Park.

“I can't put my finger on it, but I suppose a lot of the younger lads on this team have dealt with Flanno (Brian Flanagan) and we know how he works,” he explained.

“Also, we've won with him in the past so I suppose that always helps. I’m not take anything away from what Glenn (Ryan) and his team have done, because they put serious work into what we were doing, just things didn't fall for us,” he continued. 

“I suppose Flanno is bringing the younger lads that came through and that had won and then mixing it with those older boys that have that experience and we're learning off them so it's a nice mix,” he opined.

Reflecting on Kildare’s performance in the Allianz Football League the teak tough defender had this to say. 

“It was up and down but we're a team that's in transition so we had trouble here and there. We had great days but overall, we got what we set out to do and that's promotion.” 

After sampling a national final success with the U20’s in 2023 O’Neill is looking forward to another national final appearance in Croke Park on Saturday in the Tailteann Cup Final. 

“Obviously it wasn't the goal at the start of the year but as soon as we knew where we were after the Louth game we had to reset and this is the ultimate goal after that so it's all positive from here. We're just looking forward to it now,” he enthused. 

Reflecting on the semi final victory over Fermanagh, which wasn’t Kildare’s best performance of the year, the Clane man said, “I came back into the dressing room and it was a weird feeling. I was over the moon to get the win. Fermanagh are a great team so it was never taking them for granted but for the team and my own individual game I felt it was only 40%/50%, we just we didn't click.” 

Continuing he said, “They didn't play well either and it just made for a really poor game. Look, it's in the past now and we’ve had three weeks now to get back to high standards," he added. 

O’Neill faced one of Fermanagh’s better players in Conor Love in that game. 

“Yeah, I found him quite difficult. In the first half he just wanted to line up with 1 v 1 and he was very quick to get onto his left foot and take a shot off,” he explained. 

“So, second half, I just readjusted myself. He got two points in the first half so in the second half I just kind of showed him his right foot and when he was taking the shot with his right foot I tried to put him as much as I could off balance and hope that he would kick it wide and thankfully that happened. But yeah, it was a tricky day at the office,” he added ruefully. 

O’Neill is under no illusions as to the task that Kildare will face against Limerick in Saturday’s Final. 

“Yeah, I've watched a little bit of them. I know for a fact that they’ve got a tight enough forward line. They have a couple of very talented individuals in there so they’ll be a huge task, a huge challenge for us but that's what you want,” he says.

Like in 1998 and the Leinster Championship victory Clane GAA Club is well represented on the current Kildare team with O’Neill joined by goalkeeper, Cian Burke and Brian McLoughlin who made such an impact off the bench in the semi-final win over Fermanagh. 

“Yeah, 100% I love playing with the two boys, it's great to them with me as well. Hopefully we can follow through that sort of talent into the championship for Clane,” he laughs. 

Harry isn’t the only Braveheart in the O’Neill household as his Mum, Grainne, proved when she participated in a charity horse race in 2023. 

“We have a horse background so Mam volunteered to do a charity race and she obviously loved it. It was in The Curragh for the Pat Smullen Charity Fund for Cancer. It was a great cause and a great day out,” he concluded.

The O’Neill bravery will go a long way to helping Kildare’s cause in Croke Park on Saturday.